Manchester United golden boy Wayne Rooney ready to shine in Champions League against Real Madrid

Just as his selfless pass for the second of Shinji Kagawa’s three goals in
Saturday's 4-0 win against Norwich City threatened to offer further evidence
of his demotion to a supporting role at Manchester United, a ferocious swing
of his right foot served as a reminder that Wayne Rooney is still capable of
the spectacular.

It has been a while coming. A combination of Robin van Persie’s match-winning presence, the emergence of Kagawa and Tom Cleverley and Rooney’s own battle for form and fitness this season have ensured that the one-time golden boy of Old Trafford must now fight for his place.

Yet with Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo due in town on Tuesday, Rooney’s stunning 35-yard strike, which completed United’s 4-0 rout of Norwich, gave a glimpse of the destructive brilliance which continues to mark him out as English football’s biggest talent.

It is a talent that has too often failed to shine on the big stage, though.

The elephant in the room when Rooney is at the heart of the discussion is his repeated failure to make a difference when it truly matters, not just for England, but increasingly for United.

Aside from two goals against AC Milan at San Siro three years ago and one against Barcelona in the 2011 Champions League final defeat at Wembley, the highlight of Rooney’s European career with United came on his debut, almost nine years ago, when he struck a hat-trick against Fenerbahce.

Rooney is still waiting for his ‘El Beatle’ moment. He has yet to do what George Best did against Benfica in 1966, or go close to emulating Bryan Robson and Roy Keane against Barcelona (1984) and Juventus (1999) respectively by delivering a career-defining performance against the very best opponents.

The Real game offers the 27 year-old that opportunity, however, and Rooney concedes that the time has come for him to show his best.

“The age I am at now is the time when most players start to peak,” Rooney said. “From now and across the next four or five years. Hopefully that will be the case and the team will benefit from that.

“I haven’t played as many games as I normally would have at this point in the season and I do feel fresh and ready for that battle until the end of the season.

"It has been a bit of a stop-start season for me with a couple of injuries, which has been a bit disappointing. I just want to keep myself fit until the end of the season now and play a part in as many games as I can to help the team be successful.”

Rooney’s goal against Norwich could be a taster for greater things against Real, it may prove a false dawn, but the stage is set for the United forward to produce the performance which will carry Sir Alex Ferguson’s team into the quarter-finals.

His link play with Kagawa on Saturday was outstanding at times, but whether Ferguson will select the Japanese midfielder remains to be seen, despite his hat-trick.

Kagawa, who struggled to influence the game in the Bernabéu before being substituted, became the first Asian to score a Premier League hat-trick by inspiring the win against Norwich.

His first, a near post strike on the stroke of half-time, broke Norwich’s resistance and gave United the platform on which to build their commanding victory, which stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League to 15 points.

Kagawa’s second was purely down to Rooney, who eschewed the chance to shoot from six yards in favour of rolling a pass for the former Borussia Dortmund player to guide into the net on 76 minutes.

The hat-trick goal, a deft chip over goalkeeper Mark Bunn 11 minutes later, embellished Kagawa’s achievement, but it was Rooney’s strike which stole the show.

Nothing appeared to be on for Rooney, but he spotted Bunn’s slight move away from his goal-line and unleashed a dipping shot from 35 yards to claim his first goal in almost a month.

“That will do Wayne and his confidence good,” Ferguson said. “He has missed two or three games recently but he was back today, worked hard and scored a goal. That’s all we need.”